Cruising through the summer like…

Some things bringing me as much joy as the kiddie pool is bringing to my girls:

Our first beach trip of the summer. 

Last week was my mother-in-law’s birthday and we decided to head to the beach.  Mimi, my mom, the girls and I made it a girls trip.  I realized with shock that this time last year I was carrying Kennedy up and down the beach and begging her not to eat sea shells.  It’s amazing the difference a year can make.  Their enthusiasm for sand and sea was only matched by their love of slushies and ice cream, which they had plenty of – grandmas made sure of that lol. I was so proud of how they bravely took on the pool in their puddle-jumpers, kicking by themselves and jumping into our arms.  I can’t wait to teach them to swim.  The biggest take-away for me was the gift of a mom and a mother-in-law that I love and also like! What a true gift.

 

 

 

Painting again. 

Sometimes I forget how much making things makes me feel like a person. My painting of the State Fair is probably my most bizarre ever.

 

 

 

This elephant ear plant.

My Pawpaw always had elephant ear plants in his yard and his garden spread out across an entire field.  Looking at my mini garden and seeing a couple baby cucumbers and watching this elephant ear plant burst open with new gigantic leaves – somewhere deep down it makes me feel close to him again.

 

 

This finished bathroom.

 

 

And truly there are too many things to count.  I always set goals at the beginning of a summer and this summer has been no different.  I’ve read books and Tom and I worked on house projects. I volunteered serving the kids at our church this month which turned out to be more of a gift than I was expecting.  We made it a goal to have more folks over for dinner and that is a tradition I hope we keep up.  We visited our friends Jason and Kari and their new baby girl and just loved being with them.

All around a pretty sweet and full month.  As I’ve prayed and asked the Lord to lead me into July, I felt a gentle encouragement to simply “enjoy” – and so I set out into a month of many beach days and decidedly less goals hoping to do just that.